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The 25 Fittest Olympians on Team USA

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The best of the best American athletes who will compete in the 2012 Olympics in London.

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MF Editors 1 / 26

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<P>They run faster, jump higher and ball harder than anyone else in the world. With bodies seemingly designed for their sports, they’re primed and ready to make the athletically impossible look routine. Some you’ll recognize, and some you won’t. All that, however, will change on July 27 when Team USA descends upon London for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games with these guys leading the charge. They dominate their sports in the United States—and some are the absolute best in the world. On the following slides, you’ll find the elite of the elite—athleticism at its highest level. The best part? They’re on your team. Let the games begin.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">1. LeBron James</font></h3>
<p>
<strong>Forward, Basketball<br>Age 27<br>1 Gold Medal, 1 Bronze Medal</strong><br>
At 6'8" and 250 pounds, with the ability to play every position on the court, LeBron James is a force unlike any other in basketball. The unstoppable combination of speed and strength possessed by “King James” was a key factor in propelling the American team to Olympic gold in 2008. Hoping to repeat, James is taking his talents to London this year—along with a major chip on his shoulder—to compete alongside Miami Heat teammates Wade and Chris Bosh.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">2. Dwyane Wade</font></h3>
<p><strong>Guard, Basketball<br>Age 30 <br>1 Gold Medal, 1 Bronze Medal </strong><br>
Dubbed “The Redeem Team” for avenging the subpar performance of the bronze-winning 2004 squad, the 2008 U.S. Men’s basketball team evoked memories of the original Dream Team, sweeping undefeated through the entire Olympic tournament. At the heart of this run was Wade, whose leadership and heady play helped the Americans reclaim the mantle of world basketball superiority. This perennial NBA All-Star is poised to add a second gold medal to his collection in London.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">3. Ryan Lochte</font></h3>
<p><strong>Swimmer<br>Age 27<br>3 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal, 2 Bronze Medals</strong><br>
Olympic competition is serious business, but Lochte keeps things light. The six-time swimming medalist once used over a hundred rolls of toilet paper to wrap the cars of the women’s team at the University of Florida, his alma mater. Training under former strongman competitor Matt DeLancey, however, his strength and conditioning sessions are no joke. “We flip tires, lift chains, pull ropes, throw kegs in the air, and do all types of strengthening exercises,” says Lochte, who’ll bring a thoughtful approach into the pool in London. “My philosophy is loving what I’m doing and making sure I’m having fun all the time. If you follow that philosophy in sport and life, you’ll always be happy and successful.”</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">4. Dwight Phillips</font></h3>
<p><strong>Long Jumper<br>Age 34<br>1 Gold Medal</strong><br>
The only athlete to win a gold medal in four World Outdoor Championships, this Snellville, GA native also took home gold in the long jump at the 2004 Olympics. His personal best distance of 8.74 meters is all the more impressive when you consider that a motorcycle broke both Phillips’ legs at 14, rendering him unable to walk properly for two years.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">5. LaShawn Merrit</font></h3>
<p><strong>Sprinter<br>Age 26<br>2 Gold Medals</strong><br>
If Merritt wins gold in London, he’ll join Michael Johnson as one of two athletes in history to win consecutive gold medals at 400 meters. He’s also looking to shatter Johnson’s world record in the event (43.18 seconds). “I have to leave it all on the track,” Merritt says. “I’m focused on having a great year defending my titles and bring two golds back to the United States.”</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">6. Jonathon Horton</font></h3>
<p><strong>Gymnast<br>Age 26<br> 1 Silver Medal, 1 Bronze Medal</strong><br>
A two-time U.S. National All-Around Champion, this University of Oklahoma product leads a strong American men’s gymnastics team to London. “it’s important for every athlete to no lose sight of what it will be like to accomplish their goal,” Horton says. “You really have to visualize it in your mind. I think about standing on the awards podium and getting the medal around my neck, and I get really pumped."</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">7. Jesse Williams</font></h3>
<p><strong>High Jumper<br>Age 28</strong><br>
“I’m going to be really hard to beat,” says Williams, who’s been fixated on gold in London since failing to qualify for a medal in Beijing. He’s gone full paleo since then, cutting out processed foods and grains and getting all his carbs from fruits and vegetables. with a 226-pound snatch and 292-pound clean, the 175-pound Williams is among the most powerful athletes, pound-for-pound, on the American squad. “I’m a very strong competitor, mentally, too,” he says. “when I’m confident, I feel like I’m unbeatable."</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">8. Blake Griffin</font></h3>
<p><strong>Forward, Basketball<br>Age 23</strong><br>
From a potentially career-ending injury, to Rookie of the year, to All- Star starter—all in just his second season—Griffin, it seems, can’t be stopped. Now, after dragging the Los Angeles Clippers out of the NBA’s basement (and supplying ESPN with enough dunk highlights for a feature film), he’s ready to join one of the best American teams ever assembled.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">9. Errol Spence</font></h3>
<p><strong>Boxer<br>Age 22</strong><br>
By the age of 21, Spence did just about everything an amateur boxer could possibly do—all of it, remarkably, after taking up the sport at age 15. as the 2011 U.S. amateur champion and 2009 Golden Gloves national champion, his list of accomplishments is as impressive as any amateur fighter’s in history. after the Olympics, the Dallas native will begin his professional boxing career.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">10. Jason Richardson</font></h3>
<p><strong>Hurdler<br>Age 26</strong><br>
Coming off a first place finish at the 2011 IAAF World Championships, Richardson is confident about his Olympic debut. “I expect nothing less than gold,” he says. “We eat right, we train hard, and this is what we have our lives geared toward. you can’t have any worries because this is what you were born to do.”</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">11. Christian Taylor</font></h3>
<p><strong>Triple Jumper<br>Age 21</strong><br>
A ten-time NCAA All-American at the University of Florida, Taylor won the 2011 World Outdoor Championships with a jump of 17.96 meters — the tenth best jump in history.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">12. Jordan Burroughs</font></h3>
<p><strong>Wrestler<br>Age 23</strong><br>
Since 2009, Burroughs has had the Midas Touch in every competition he’s entered. He’s a two-time NCAA champion and Hodge Trophy winner—college wrestling’s equivalent of the Heisman—and has since won gold medals at both the World Wrestling Championships and the Pan American games</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">13. Danell Leyva</font></h3>
<p><strong>Gymnast<br>Age 20</strong><br>
As the 2011 world champion on the parallel bars and U.S. national champion, it’s Leyva’s daredevil style that’s impressed his contemporaries most. “The most challenging part about gymnastics,” he says, “is that your success is driven by your ability to pull off stunts that have never been done before.”</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">14. Tyson Gay</font></h3>
<p><strong>Sprinter<br>Age 29</strong><br>
He’s the only man to defeat Usain Bolt in the 100 since Beijing in 2008, and the second-fastest sprinter of all time (behind Bolt). Considered the only man with a serious shot at knocking off Bolt in London, Gay plans to skip the 200 meters in 2012—focusing solely on the 100 and his nemesis. “I came up empty-handed in my last Olympics,” he says, “so going there healthy, knowing I have a fair shot at bringing home a medal, excites me.” After months of rehab from various injuries including one that sidelined him in Beijing, Gay says he feels more focused than ever. “I’m more patient, more of a perfectionist,” he says. “I’m focusing on every stride.”</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">15. David Oliver</font></h3>
<p><strong>Hurdler<br>Age 30, 1 Bronze Medal</strong><br>
While his physique seems to get most of the attention, Oliver’s résumé as a hurdler—and all-around athlete—is certainly impressive on its own. he’s the American record holder in the 110-meter hurdles and a two-time NCAA All-American in track and field at Howard University, where he somehow found time to play wide receiver on the football team. most recently, he won bronze in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2010 world indoor championships, but it’s his bronze medal from the 110-meter hurdles in Beijing that has this favorite hungry for gold.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">16. Ellis Coleman </font></h3>
<p><strong>Wrestler<br>Age 20</strong><br>
The U.S. Olympic Trials are a rough road in any sport, but if there’s one athlete among our 25 who could conceivably have made his team simply by submitting a YouTube video instead, it’s this Greco-Roman wrestling hopeful. The 20-year-old Coleman, who’ll compete in the 60-kilogram class in London, achieved worldwide Internet fame for his astounding “flying squirrel”—a takedown in which he dives over his opponent from a standing position, secures his waist, then spins him head-over-heels onto the mat. for the record, Coleman made the U.S. team the traditional way—by winning his way through the trials in April.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">17. Taylor Phinney</font></h3>
<p><strong>Cyclist<br>Age 21</strong><br>
When both your parents are former competitive cyclists with hundreds of race wins and an Olympic gold medal between them, success on a bike is essentially preordained. At 21, Phinney’s considered by many to be Lance Armstrong’s heir apparent—a tag he’ll have the chance to justify in London.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">18. Michael Phelps</font></h3>
<p><strong>Swimmer<br>Age 26<br>14 Gold Medals, 2 bronze Medals</strong><br>
His 2008 performance in Beijing— a record eight gold medals—was, simply stated, the best ever. Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, and it seems as though the only competitor he’s racing at this point is himself. That’s not the way he sees things this time around, though. “Over the past three years,” he says, “my career hasn’t been very good. Honestly, it’s been kind of terrible.” As London approaches, however, Phelps’ fire seems to be rekindling. “[This past year] I was able to rediscover the passion and desire to compete,” he says. “I found that drive to be the best.” His training has evolved, too: At 26, he’s focusing less on the distances he’s logging and more on recovery. “I’ve started sleeping in an altitude chamber,” Phelps says. “I’m like the boy in the bubble.” </p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">19. Tony Azevedo </font></h3>
<p><strong>Striker, Water Polo<br>Age 30<br>1 Silver Medal</strong><br>
The U.S. Olympic water polo team’s training borders on the absurd: swim for three hours, hit the gym for two, then get back in the pool for another three—six days a week with no off-season. “I’ll tell anyone that our sport is the toughest in the world,” says Azevedo, the team’s captain and arguably the best water polo player on the planet. That’s saying a lot for a man who doctors said would never walk again after a severed esophagus and trachea, sustained from a childhood fall, left him without a heartbeat for almost four minutes before a final attempt to revive him succeeded. “I was in and out of the hospital a lot around that time,” Azevedo says. “Then, when I could walk, they said I’d never play sports.”
</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">20. Ashton Eaton </font></h3>
<p><strong>Decathlete<br>Age 24</strong><br>
A 24-year-old phenom who’s been shattering records since his freshman year at the University of Oregon, Eaton recorded a new world record score in the heptathlon in March. The 2012 Games could potentially introduce Eaton the way the 2004 Games marked the debut of Michael Phelps, giving the world just a taste of what’s in store.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">21. Kendrick Farris </font></h3>
<p><strong>Weightlifter<br>Age 26</strong><br>
With most medalists coming from Eastern European countries—and China, of late — the United States hasn’t historically been a powerhouse in Olympic weightlifting. Kendrick Farris hopes to change that. At 26 years old and under 190 pounds, he’s totaled 362 kilograms (798.7 pounds) in the snatch and clean and jerk. Farris set two American records in Beijing and hopes to set a clean-and-jerk world record this summer in London.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">22. Brady Ellison</font></h3>
<p><strong>Archer<br>Age 23</strong><br>
Ellison’s love of archery—and hard work—stems from an Arizona childhood spent hunting with his father. after failing to medal in Beijing in 2008, Ellison, 23, heads to London as the number-one-ranked archer in the world and a heavy favorite to bring home the gold medal.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">23. David Boudia</font></h3>
<p><strong>Diver<br>Age 23</strong><br>
The first American to break 600 points in six dives, this Purdue attendee has also broken the American record for most points on a single dive (the 10 meter). Only 23, the Noblesville, In, native tours as a motivational speaker when he’s not training.</p>

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<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">24. Trey Hardee</font></h3>
<p><strong>Decathlete<br>Age 28</strong><br>
Hardee’s third attempt in the javelin throw at the 2011 World Outdoor Championships was the longest of his career. It’s also the one that tore the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his elbow. Leading with one event left (the 1500 meter run), however, Hardee simply wrapped his arm and recorded his best time of the season to win decathlon gold</p>

<h3><font color="red" font family="Arial">25. Steven Lopez</font></h3>
<p><strong>Taekwondo<br>Age 33<br>2 Gold Medals, 1 Bronze Medal</strong><br>
Lopez may be entering his fourth Olympics, but his desire to win has not diminished. "One of the greatest feelings I've ever had is being on that first-place podium, you know, being awarded the gold medal, watching my flag being raised and listening to my national anthem," he told <a href="http://www.39online.com/newsfix/kiah-steven-lopez-looks-to-bring-home-go... target="_blank">CW39 Houston News</a> recently. That is the ultimate goal for every Olympian on this list, so make sure to support all Team USA athletes when the Games start on July 27. They are counting on you! </p>